The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
School Board OKs budget, hears school-of-choice numbers
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: June 12, 2008
The Saline school board Tuesday night approved a $50 million budget that's largely unchanged from last year, despite predictions of flat enrollment growth.
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Projecting a conservative $60 increase in the state foundation allowance, which would increase the district's funding from the state to $7,600 per student, Assistant Superintendent of Finance Tom Wall presented a balanced budget that reflected no change in pay-to-play fees and only a 10-cent increase in the lunch price next year.
Prior to unanimously approving the budget, the board learned that nine of 15 teachers who received lay-off notices in May were scheduled to be recalled.
Five of the teachers are being recalled to full-time posts, while four are returning part time. Of the five teachers returning full time, three will be at the high school and two at the elementary level, said Betty Rosen-Leacher, assistant superintendent for instructional services.
The board also learned that 39 applications were received in response to the district's school-of-choice program, which allows students from outside the district to attend Saline schools.
Superintendent Scot Graden said administrators were currently planning to accept only 25 school-of-choice students, but that the number could fluctuate depending on enrollment figures.
Twenty applications were submitted for kindergartners; 12 for first grade; four for second grade; one for third; and two for fourth, Graden said. Fourteen of the applicants are from the Ann Arbor school district; nine are from Lincoln Consolidated Schools; four are from Van Buren; and four from Ypsilanti.
Graden said the district didn't market the program, but that competition for students was on the increase now that Chelsea, Dexter and Ann Arbor are the only districts in the county that don't participate in schools of choice.
"(Schools of choice) is becoming more prevalent in the county," he said. "It's becoming a competitive market for students among the county's school districts."
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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